I am so happy to be in Santa Ynez, California this weekend. I love Colorado Springs, but so far this winter has been a tough one. We’ve had a few sustained periods of bitter cold, like many areas of the US in recent months, and I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to escape …
By Chris Carmichael Winter is a huge opportunity for a cyclist. Instead of looking at these months as a period of indoor drudgery or outdoor misery, look at them as the period where you can focus on shoring up your weaknesses and building on your strengths as a new season approaches. Strength training can be …
January brings optimism and new beginnings, especially for athletes looking forward to another exciting year of training and spectacular performances! If you’ve been waiting to set a goal for yourself, now’s the time to do it. Whether this is the year you swing for the fences with an audacious goal or keep it a …
As we get ready to close 2013 and roll into 2014, I’ve been thinking about my own “Best of 2013” list. The past 12 months have been very exciting, and quite varied in terms of my own experiences and the results that CTS Athletes have achieved. The hardest part of making a list like this …
As I walked outside earlier this week for our 4-hour Staff Meeting group ride, I realized I was in for a tough day. Standing out there were pros Danny Pate (Team Sky), Kelli Emmett (Giant), Fernando Riveros (Rotor), and Kalan Beisel (Orbea-Tuff Shed). We were just going out for a moderate-pace group ride and it …
The past few weeks have been particularly difficult for outdoor training in Colorado – and much of the US. In Colorado Springs there was a stretch of about 7-10 days when the high temperatures never even reached 20 degrees, and the nights hovered around zero. While there were some folks who ventured out in such …
With Thanksgiving coming up, it’s time for a Thanksgiving Challenge! I started this a years ago as kind of an off-the-cuff challenge to keep myself motivated, and it was very exciting to see how many people joined me. When Neil Bremner from Bike Barn reached out to see if I wanted to contribute to the …
This week I was talking with one of the CTS Athletes who will be joining me for the La Ruta de los Conquistadores race in Costa Rica later this month. We were talking about his preparation and I mentioned that his performances in training and competitions have been remarkably consistent over the past 18 months. …
Everybody seems to understand the rationale for lab testing or field testing at the beginning of a training program, but I also think that testing at the end of a season can be extremely valuable. At the beginning of the season, the purpose of field testing was to get a snapshot of your fitness and …
This week I had to shuffle my schedule in a way that many career professionals will find familiar. I was in Colorado Springs Monday and Tuesday, and then I traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Interbike show Wednesday through Friday. And while Interbike is all about bikes, I knew I wasn’t going to get …